Winners and Losers: The Big 12 now has three contenders with a loss

If the SEC was the conference to fret about in the first week of the season, Week 2 became the Big 12’s early season week of worry. The conference saw two of its contenders lose in heartbreaking fashion to teams they were favored against at home.

We’ll start with Oklahoma State, which lost 30-27 to Central Michigan on a Hail Mary play that included a lateral for a touchdown. Of course, we can’t talk about that play without noting the monstrous caveat that an officiating mistake allowed it to happen in the first place. If the Mid-American Conference officials apply the rule book correctly to the Oklahoma State intentional grounding penalty that initially ended the game, OSU is 2-0.

But come on, there’s no excuse for losing to a two-plus touchdown underdog at home. Oklahoma State could have defended the final play better. It didn’t. It could have run the ball better and more often. It didn’t. It could have not given up 361 yards passing. It didn’t. The officials aren’t solely to blame.

TCU lost in double overtime to Arkansas 41-38 after a potential game-winning field goal attempt was blocked with 10 seconds left in regulation. The field goal attempt came after Arkansas tied the game at 28-28 on a reverse pass to quarterback Austin Allen, who got a foot in bounds before hitting the sideline. While TCU’s offense had over 570 yards, the defense is still a bit of a question mark. After getting shredded by South Dakota State in Week 1, TCU gave up 6.5 yards per play to an Arkansas offense that averaged 4.3 per play in a Week 1 squeaker vs. Louisiana Tech.

While both losses mean nothing for the Big 12 title race, they could have huge College Football Playoff implications. The committee’s criteria for excellence may be ever-evolving, but we’re confident that a loss to a group of five team that won’t sniff the playoff and another to a team that could potentially finish in the bottom half of its division will play a lot worse in the meeting room than Oklahoma’s Week 1 loss to Houston.

And before we move on to the rest of this week’s winners and losers, the Big 12’s bad week doesn’t solely rest on the shoulders of two teams. Iowa State was demolished 42-3 in its annual rivalry game with Iowa. And Kansas, which got its first win since 2014 in Week 1, was run off the field by an Ohio team that lost to North Texas last week.

WINNERS

Service Academies: For the first time in two decades, Air Force, Army and Navy are all 2-0 to start the season.

Unfortunately, only one of these teams can ultimately go undefeated since they play each other in a round robin for the Commander-In-Chief Trophy. But we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves. The trio will try to go 9-0 for the first time ever when Air Force meets Utah State, Army meets UTEP and Navy plays Tulane next week.

Pharaoh Brown: Two years ago, Oregon tight end Pharaoh Brown suffered a leg injury so severe that it nearly required amputation. On Saturday, in his second game since that injury, Brown caught his first touchdown pass to give the Ducks a 27-6 lead in the second quarter against Virginia.

Quarterback Dakota Prukop found Brown with an over-the-shoulder pass in the left corner of the end zone. Brown’s celebration was subtle as he pointed one finger in the air while his teammates celebrated around him.

Lamar Jackson, Louisville: For the second week in a row, the dual-threat Jackson makes our winners list after his dazzling performance vs. Syracuse. Friday night, the sophomore QB had 411 yards passing, another 199 rushing and five touchdowns. Jackson’s 610 yards of offense set a new ACC record. He’s in for a much bigger test next weekend when Louisville welcomes Florida State to town.

Adoree’ Jackson, USC: Jackson showed off his big-play capabilities with a 77-yard punt return touchdown in USC’s 45-7 home win over Utah State, but his best moment of the day came after the game. While speaking with a Pac-12 Network reporter, Jackson had a touching moment with his mom, who was unable to see her son play during the 2015 season while she dealt with breast cancer. Watch this:

Drew Lock, Missouri: Missouri quarterback Drew Lock threw five touchdowns in a 61-21 win against Eastern Michigan, and those five touchdown passes were more than Lock threw all of 2015. And he started all 12 games.

Against Eastern Michigan, Lock set career-highs in touchdown passes (five), passing yards (450) and tied the Missouri single-game touchdown passes record.

As a team, Missouri’s 61 points were just 12 fewer points than the Tigers scored in all of its SEC games combined.

Wake Forest: Wake Forest freshman running back Cade Carney scored three times, including once on a 55-yard run, to lead the Demon Deacons to a 24-14 win against Duke. The win stopped a four-game losing streak against the Blue Devils and gave the Demon Deacons their first 2-0 start since 2012. With Delaware on tap next, Wake Forest could start the season 3-0 for the first time since 2008.

Toomer’s Corner: One of the best traditions in college football is officially back. After Auburn knocked off Arkansas State 51-14 Saturday night, Tigers fans flocked to the corner of Magnolia and College to roll the Oak trees at Toomer’s Corner.

The longstanding tradition, which has fans throwing toilet paper over the trees after each AU football victory, was temporarily stopped in 2013 after the trees were poisoned a few years earlier. The school tried to save the original trees but they were eventually replaced with two new trees in February 2015.

Donnel Pumphrey, San Diego State: SDSU running back Donnel Pumphrey is one of the best-kept secrets in college football. He has been putting up huge numbers for the Aztecs throughout his career and broke Marshall Faulk’s school record for rushing yards in a 45-40 win over Cal on Saturday night. Pumphrey rushed for 281 yards and three touchdowns in the win, SDSU’s 12th in a row.

LOSERS

Alabama: If you’ve wondered why many college football fans can’t stand the Crimson Tide, Saturday’s game vs. Western Kentucky was a perfect reason why. The defending national champions won the game 38-10 but you’d have thought Alabama was upset by the Hilltoppers based off some of the postgame remarks coming from the team.

“I don’t know that I’ve been this disappointed after a win, maybe ever,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said after the game via TideSports.com.

He added: “I’m almost embarrassed that I didn’t do a better job for our team.”

His frustration was evident near the end of the game with his “ass-chewing” of offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin.

Saban wasn’t the only one melancholy after the game either.

“I feel like we’re a lot better than what we’re playing right now,” Linebacker Ryan Anderson said via SECCountry.com. “A lot of people are disappointed, embarrassed how we performed as a team.”

Look, we get why these things are being said. Anything less than a national title is a disappointment for Alabama and a road game looms at Ole Miss in Week 3. But there are so many fans who would take extreme satisfaction in a 28-point home win. And when they see Alabama throwing around words like “embarrassed,” it can be off-putting.

Mark Stoops and Kentucky: It will reportedly cost $12 million to buy out Kentucky coach Mark Stoops, but the university might think it’s worth the price after the last two games. A week after Kentucky gave away a 35-10 led in a loss to Southern Miss, the Wildcats were trounced 45-7 by Florida.

Stoops is in Year 4 of his contract and little has changed in Lexington. The Wildcats haven’t had a winning season and haven’t been to a bowl under Stoops. This was supposed to be the year to erase that trend, but that’s hard to imagine with the way things have started. Another four- or five-win season appears to be in the cards for Kentucky.

Ahki Muhammad, Nevada: Nevada’s kick returner had one job and he blew it. Muhammad fielded a kick in the end-zone and decided to run the ball. Then, after stepping out of the end-zone, had a change-of-heart and knelt down instead. The move resulted in a safety for Notre Dame and possibly a deep sense of regret over the mental error for Muhammad.

The Holy War: BYU’s decision to go for two after scoring what should have been a touchdown to force overtime mercifully ended what was a close but tough game to watch. Utah won 20-19 to start the season 2-0, but other than the play of its defense, there was little boast about.

Each starting quarterback — BYU’s Taysom Hill and Utah’s Troy Williams — had three interceptions and the two teams combined for nine total turnovers, including six by the Utes. The teams also combined for 197 penalty yards and BYU had two ejections for targeting in the third quarter.

While the game was entertaining because it was a close contest that came down to the final play, neither coach is going to be happy with the execution.

NC State: Ugly mistakes on both sides of the ball cost NC State a road win vs. in-state rival East Carolina. While the Wolfpack was able to move the ball on offense, it was the defense that had difficulty matching up with the Pirates who have now won six straight games vs. ACC opponents dating back to 2013.

The Wolfpack had a chance to go for a tying field goal at the end of the game, but had a critical clock management error. With eight seconds left from the ECU 46, Ryan Finley hit wideout Bra’Lon Cherry for a 22-yard gain and into field goal range. But instead of quickly going down to allow his team to stop the clock, Cherry held on to the ball for too long, allowing time to expire and ECU to hang on to a win.

Northwestern: After winning 10 games in 2015, the 2016 season is off to a disastrous start for Northwestern. The Wildcats dropped a heartbreaker to Western Michigan in last weekend’s season opener, but Saturday was even worse. Pat Fitzgerald’s squad was upset by FCS Illinois State, 9-7. Yes, the Wildcats could only muster seven points. Worst of all, they lost on a last-second field goal from a kicker who missed an extra point in the first half. Not good.